Lord of Industrialization

"Grand Duke Weisen invited you to his residence?"

Everyone in the Phila City delegation looked at Ludovico in surprise, as if they were meeting him for the first time.

People started asking him all kinds of questions.

"Do you have any business you're hiding from us?"

"Did you do anything bad when you went to the Principality of Wesson last year?"

"Do you have a beautiful sister?"

…

Ludovico was also puzzled. He and Grand Duke Wesson had no intersection at all. Why was he looking for him?

Because of this, he arranged the meeting at tea time the next day, so that he could have a good memory and have enough time to run away if it was a bad thing.

"Uh..." Ludovico suddenly thought of something, "I seem to know why he invited me."

Everyone looked at him. If there was really a big business, then everyone would order soup.

Ludovico promised that the guys all had green eyes, like wolves trying to eat people. He swallowed his saliva and said: "Grand Duke Weisen is a student of Ms. Qingju. Ms. Qingju and I have been pen pals for many years. Although We haven’t met in person, but we often discuss poetry in letters.”

Many officials in the Kingdom of Sardinia have a background in law and literature. Many of them have good literary skills and will read some literary works on weekdays.

They knew that Ludovico was a great poet, but they didn't expect that he was actually related to another famous female poet.

Just as Ludovico thought, when he came to Frederick's residence the next day, Frederick really came to him to talk about literature.

Frederick quickly turned the conversation to drama, and Ludovico couldn't help but complain.

Ludovico shook his head and said: "Tragedy is very popular in the Kingdom of Sardinia now. The more it hurts people's hearts and makes people shed more tears, then it is a good drama."

“These tragedies have gorgeous settings, grand scenes, actors’ monologues that are so long that they make you sleepy, and lyrics that are dry and preachy and boring.”

"Life is already so depressing, why do you still shed tears when watching a play? Wouldn't it be better to laugh more?"

"Besides, if you want to preach, drama can also preach."

"Last year I went with the Fira City Government to Weissenburg to participate in the World Exposition. I fell ill there. When I recovered, it started to snow. I went to the theater every day throughout the winter."

"At first I thought the farce was just to make people laugh, but it wasn't until I watched a scene for the third time that I realized there was an element of preaching in the play."

Frederick asked with great interest: "Which scene is it?"

Ludovico said: "There is a sign saying, 'This road is blocked for building the bridge ahead.' Many people don't believe it and find excuses to continue walking. When they find that the bridge ahead is blocked, they come back in despair and complain to each other. , then I found the words 'Believe it, fool' behind the sign."

"I work in the city government of Fira City. I used to write notices a lot. There are many people who don't read the notices."

"I suddenly realized that day that this farce was a way of telling the audience that there would be no good consequences if they didn't read the notice."

Frederick just smiled, thinking that what he said made sense, but this scene came from real life.

Ludovico continued: "In fact, the comedy is not very good. The content is the same. It is either a misunderstanding or an affair. In the past two years, it has been popular that lost children grow up and recognize their relatives, and finally grow up with the help of noble people. reunion."

"The audience will know the content of the story as soon as they read the name of the play. The only highlights are the actors' performances and adapted lines. Some theater companies also add acrobatics and actresses dancing without clothes in order to attract the audience."

"Now there is a new kind of pastoral drama. It is for city people to watch, but the background of the story is in the countryside. The main musical instrument is the reed flute, and the characters are farmers and shepherdess."

Then he said with a smile: "Last month, when a troupe there performed a pastoral drama, they brought a real cow on stage. As a result, the cow pooped a big poop on the stage, and the audience burst into laughter."

"Later, when we performed again, it was so awesome that the audience was still dissatisfied."

Frederick laughed, and the audience did not take it too seriously to watch the excitement.

After he finished laughing, he said: "It seems that many of your plays here are about ordinary people. Are there any about the aristocratic court?"

Ludovico replied: "Of course there are, but those are mostly big plays in big theaters. Citizens prefer to go to small theaters to watch small plays by ordinary people."

"I prefer to write plays about ordinary people. In big plays, the lyrics need to conform to the rhythm, which gives me a headache, but in small plays, there is not so much emphasis."

"And there are more small theaters, so the income from selling scripts is higher."

Frederick nodded and said: "It seems that although the market for short plays is huge, the content and themes are still the same, without many major breakthroughs."

Ludovico nodded and said, "That's true. In fact, I'm tired of it too."

"But I found a new direction. When I was in Weissenburg, I read an anthology of your art work. It mentioned that art comes from life, and creators should get inspiration from life."

"At that time, there was an art exhibition of the Wesson School. I went to see it. The themes were all about field work and factory workers. There were many people watching and buying."

“That inspired me to start trying to find materials around me, and that’s when I met an interesting guy from the Kingdom of Gaul.”

Frederick had some knowledge of the Wesson school.

Nowadays, Weissenburg has a large number of painters. In order to sell their paintings, some began to break through the limitations of the original subject matter. At first, they succeeded in painting tractors, and then some began to paint workers in the ironworks.

The size of these paintings is not large, generally only 80×60 cm, and the small 40×30 cm. The price is not expensive, and many people can afford it.

After the printmakers entered this field, this type of painting began to appear on postcards and stamps, and spread in the Rhine Alliance through the initially established postal system.

The same is true for drama. Frederick had long advocated that creators write more plays about labor life, but it was not very popular after leaving the Duchy of Wessen. Military-themed works are quite popular.

Frederick asked Ludovico: "You met the Gaul who sells oysters, right?"

Ludovico immediately replied: "Yes, his last name is Dafranche. I wrote a play based on his story after I came back in the spring. Do you know him?"

Frederick said: "I have heard of him."

"I read the play you wrote yesterday and was not satisfied with it, so I wanted to talk to you."

Ludovico broke out in a cold sweat. He had never expected that he was called because his play angered Grand Duke Wesson. If he had known this, he would have run away last night.

Frederick smiled and said: "Don't be nervous. I am not here to accuse you."

"I think you have not grasped the core of Dafranche's experience. Your script is actually just a new skin for the old content. It is no different from other plays with new skins."

Ludovico was relieved to see that he was not accusing him, but he felt uncomfortable when he heard him criticize his script.